The Life and Adventures of Spectrum
by Spade-the-artist
Summary: Follow Spectrum as she nomads across equestria with her changeling companion! Some Ocs but a vast exploration into equestrian lore. Some angsty parts but is mostly a cute adventure with a silly pony. Meant to show a person can grow. -Contains spoilers for the asktweakedpony blog that I almost never update. Getting my thoughts on paper helps.
1. Chapter 1

It doesn't mean anything.

Or at least, that's what she keeps telling herself.

Spectrum is a silly pony. That's a given. Like most others she's made mistakes, laughed at inappropriate times, and even took things seriously that weren't really issues. It's not her fault that she doesn't understand. 'No one teaches you these things,' she'd think to herself, 'they can't blame me for what I don't know.'

But they did.

So she tried harder.

and she failed.

and in the midst of running away from her problems she found herself here.

In the middle of a rain-forsaken land filled with dust and rocks, sitting at the edge of a crater with a little baby changeling staring up at her.

'They can't blame me,' she thought again. 'they tell me changelings are dangerous but never say why. So they can't blame me for feeling sorry.'

They can't blame her for giving it shade with her wings. Or giving it a name. Or taking it with her. Talking to it. Playing with it.

"Snuggles," She said and the little changeling perked up at it's name. "Look."

She gestured to a view of the mountain range in the distance. A swooping trail of blue zipping down to a large open expanse of green. To most it would be breathtaking, to this little changeling it would mean danger. Vast. Nowhere to hide. Exposed. But as his caretaker slowly padded her way down the hill he just nestled into her feathers. 3 weeks ago he wouldn't have even done so. He used her as shade and nothing more. But as she has grown to be something foreign to this changeling, the feathers are a welcome hideaway. Safe.

Spectrum giggled to herself softly as she adjusted her wings to cover him completely. He was the only reason she liked her wings these days. She took a moment to turn her face to the sun and take a deep breath. She frowned.

Celestia, give me courage.

Lowering her head she opened her eyes only to have them squint as something was glinting the sunlight to her gaze.

Curious, she trotted softly over to the object.

It was some strange red, curved crystal.

She picked it up and placed it into her sack. It could be a good trade for rooming for a night. After all, she now had three reasons to not go home. One of which, had fallen asleep in her wings.

She smiled to herself. Learning to treasure these moments.

'I wonder if anypony else has heard a changeling snore?'


	2. Chapter 2

Spectrum awoke with a start.

Wet.

My face is covered with water.

Shaking the liquid from her muzzle she looked to see an impatient face staring at her from rocks lining the shallow edge of the river. She knew she took a small break from trotting. After all, she had been walking since sunrise. She must of nodded off while basking in the warm sun. The warm sun that was no longer in the sky.

The impatient face leaped again, spraying her with dropplets.

The spray brought her attention back from her mind.

"Yeah. Yeah. You win. I'm up." She spoke as she arose to her hooves.

The impatient face had changed to a happy one as he trotted over to her. He looked up expectantly.

She leaned down to nuzzle him before turning to look around. If being in a new place wasn't dangerous enough with not knowing what's lurking about. Being caught by somepony with a changeling was just as bad.

It may have been over a year since the canterlot wedding incident, but that didn't stop ponies from being hostile. She silently let out a breathy laugh to herself. The irony never ceases.

She felt a tug on her mane.

Snuggles directed her attention back to the river stretched before them.

'This could be a challenge.' she thought to herself.

She picked up the little one by his scruff and placed him back on her wings. He nestled in immediately.

She closed her eyes to focus.

_Clear your mind._

_Feel the waves._

_The paths between us._

_The distance that's not there._

_Breathe._

_Your clarity is mine._

Her horn had then begun to glow softly as moonlight was pulled from the very air around her.

It wrapped around her hooves. The cold luminescence a subtle indication of the spell's success.

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she placed her left forehoof on the water.

It faltered only slightly as she pressed down.

"Not too bad considering it's been a while." she spoke to Snuggles who watched his reflection in the water flowing beneath them.

She was halfway across when she noticed her own reflection.

She quickly looked away as she quickened her pace.

'_Now isn't the time_' she thought.

When they reached the other side Snuggles was giving her a look of concern. Apparently she had been wearing a grimace on her face. She twisted it to a silly face to have his return to that soft smile he wore. She liked to believe it was only for her.

She giggled softly as she returned to trotting towards the mountains.

'_I wonder if anyone has ever earned a smile from a changeling?_'

She sighed and looked towards the calm moon enjoying it's sight before it was eclipsed by the tip of the monument she was going to scale.

Imagining the cold, she instinctively fluffed up her feathers.

"I really should've packed a scarf." she laughed.

Snuggles had nodded off again in her feathers.

It really wasn't fair.

Why after all this time and why a changeling of all things.

The faint voices at the back of her mind told her why.

She frowned and looked towards the moon.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" she asked the moon.

The moon didn't respond.


End file.
